Neal Pollard
Beside the computer in my study is an incredible picture of Kathy and beside that an artist’s rendering of me, dated January, 1999. The artist is Gary, and at that time he was barely five. My neck in depiction is much slenderer than the real thing, and is drawn in orange marker. A somewhat round circle drawn in blue makes up my face. The rest of me is drawn in red, two huge eyes with gigantic pupils (and the right eye about twice the size of the left), eyebrows (astute for a five-year-old), a big smile, no nose, and a tuft of red, squiggly hair on top. In the upper right hand corner is what looks like a mitten, but given its color and relative shape I know it’s a heart. In the top left corner, in blue, is the word “DADDY.”
As a dozen years have passed since he yielded a masterpiece for me that I would not trade for a Monet or Rembrandt, I feel several things whenever I dwell on that beautiful picture: Regret, for any and every moment I could have spent with his brothers and him that I did not, realization that time waits for no man, resolve to make the time count each day, and responsibility to give these boys the very best “daddy” I can. People tell us when our children are tiny that these days will be fleeting, but we do not believe them. The next day, we are handing them our car keys and registering them for college.
Are you satisfied with where you are as a parent? What values are we instilling in them, preparing them for the day when they can no longer be our charges? Into our care, God gave us eternal souls we helped bring into existence. They are “of” us, “from” us, “with” us for a while, and “under” us, temporarily, as pupils in the school of priorities. Paper tokens of affection, framed and preserved, may touch our hearts, but lives built under our roofs will move us much more deeply. May we have the wisdom to see that, and live accordingly.
The Preacher Pollard Blog 
Thank you Neal for those words of encouragement, I as a younger father need to hear those!
Amen, Brother!